I had never had an African tea before, but Kenya was recommended to me. This is a very pleasant tea, with some unique flavors I haven’t come across before in black tea. A nice switch from my usual round of Ceylons and Assams.

I wanted tea to take to Readercon, without the bother of bagging my own bulk tea, so I bought a Twinnings Black Tea Variety Pack. It contains English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lady Grey, and Irish Breakfast. The English Breakfast was disappointing. Twinnings is loved by many, but not, apparently, me. I suspect I’ve been spoiled by the bulk teas of good by-mail suppliers, like Upton and Yunnan. The package says this tea is a blend of Kenyan and Assam. I’ve never had Kenyan, though it was recommended to me recently. I will try a different source for Kenyan at some time.

Upton products marked ‘Season’s Pick’ are inexpensive teas sold to institutional markets in multi-kilogram quantities. Upton also packages them in smaller packages, usually of 200 g, for sale to consumers at modest prices. My experience with these has been positive; this tea was the least impressive of the bunch, though. Not a bad tea, but not a very interesting one.

Kandy is a major tea-producing region of Sri Lanka/Ceylon. The maltiness is reminiscent of Assam teas, not usually found in ones from Sri Lanka. I like the malt and the finish, not so crazy about the cardboard.

Taiwan (“Formosa,” to the tea trade, which is hilariously conservative with respect to names of origin) is the source of many fine teas, with which I am mostly unfamiliar because they tend to be pricey. This was purchased as a 12 g. sample. It gets only 3.5 stars because I’m just not that fond of flowery oolongs. I prefer baked oolongs, like the wu-yi types.

This is black tea with flavorings, not an herbal tea. I am not a huge fan of most flavored teas. This one might have been better with milk, sugar, or honey, which I don’t use. If you like fruity teas, you might like it.

This is essentially an ersatz Pi Lo Chun in appearance and taste, for a much lower price. Very satisfactory as an everyday green tea. Upton sells a limited number of inexpensive teas in kilogram quantities to institutional buyers, and also in 200 g packs for individual customers, labeled as ‘Seasons Pick.’

About John

I have been writing fiction for as long as I can remember. I was first published in college, but wrote only intermittently for the next several decades, during which I started and ran a small business, entered medical school, and practiced as an academic emergency physician for almost three decades. I took up writing fiction more seriously around 2002, and since then have published short fiction in Asimov’s, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Interzone, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and other venues. One of my stories, “Fourteen Experiments in Postal Delivery,” has been reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Twentieth Annual Collection. My first novel, Half-Witch, was published by Small Beer Press in July, 2018.